The Making of Her is Bernadette Jiwa’s debut novel, although she’s published several nonfiction books. The story is set primarily in Dublin and written as a dual timeline between the 1960s and the 1990s. In her novel, Jiwa tells the story of Joan and the difficulties she faced in her life. Joan’s life growing up was the opposite of Martin’s; she came from a low-income family struggling to make ends meet, and he from a wealthy family wanting for nothing. As expected, they fall in love, but then she becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Martin forces her to give their baby up for adoption to avoid a scandal before the wedding. Joan continued to love and miss the baby she had to give up and subsequently had difficulty bonding with the daughter she and Martin had after marriage. I found myself rooting for Joan and wishing she would stand up to Martin well before all the conflict came to a head when the daughter they gave up contacted them as a grown woman.
I found the book overall to be a good story. However, I wanted more from the ending, maybe because I prefer books where most things wrap up neatly, and there were a few loose threads for me with this one.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Have you ever had to make an impossible decision? A decision that will haunt you for the rest of your life. Joan Egan made such a decision thirty years ago when she gave up her baby daughter. She is haunted daily by this choice and regrets it to this day. It is an open wound that has never healed and keeps opening as more and more cracks in her marriage become apparent. The Making of Her is an emotional tale that will leave you with tears streaking down your face and have you wondering what you would do if you were ever put in this unimaginable situation.

Bernadette Jiwa has created perfection in the characters that she has created. Joan is a lost soul that you can relate to. She grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Lost her mother early and had to help raise her siblings. She falls head over heels in love with Martin, who comes from a wealthy family and a mother who can only love him. No one would ever be good enough for her Martin and she makes Joan feel this to her very core. This is how a new relationship begins to crumble even before they walk down the aisle and thirty years later Joan is still paying the price. This book will pull on every single one of your heart strings. The way family dynamics come into play creates such a rich story. Thank you to Bernadette Jiwa and Penguin Random House for gifting me this phenomenal novel!

A very emotional story revolving around mother and daughter relationships.
The Making of Her was a ok read for me. Not overly sure why I didn’t enjoy it more. I did feel that the story seemed to drag a bit.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Stories of motherhood just hit right for me. With three boys four and under I’m really in the thick of it. I love to read about people and experiences different from my own, but there’s something about a story that mirrors my current life situation that resonates with me too.

THE MAKING OF HER follows Joan in 1960s Dublin when she makes the heartbreaking choice to give up her daughter Emma for adoption because of societal pressures. Years later, Joan is married and gives birth to a second daughter Caramel, who Joan and her husband raise. Tensions run high when Emma reconnects with Joan decades later. This character-driven story highlights themes of motherhood, marriage, and forgiveness. The nuances of adoption were also brought to light in a thoughtful way.

Bernadette Jiwa has an extensive nonfiction backlist, but THE MAKING OF HER is her debut novel. I enjoyed the writing and themes she explored and look forward to picking up future books.

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: August 9, 2022

Many thanks to Dutton Books and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review. \

Review will be posted to www.instagram.com/kellyhook.readsbooks the week of publication

The Making of Her was not exactly about what I thought it was going to be about—I expected more about the act of placing a child for adoption and less domestic drama between a middle aged couple. It was entertaining enough, but it was a pretty predictable storyline. I wish also that Emma and Joan had spoken more. By making Emma so reluctant to have any kind of relationship, there was a lot of emotional territory that just went unexplored. It was fine, but I don’t think I’ll be reaching for it again. Luckily it was a really quick read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for an advance reader’s copy.

Thank you Penguin Random House for the advanced copy of this book. The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa is set in Dublin in the 1960s and 1990s voiced from three perspectives. Joan gave up her first born daughter in the 1960s and really never recovered from the loss. The title of this story is so fitting, throughout the story we learn why Joan turned out the way she did and why her relationships are the way they are. It wasn't always an easy read as Joan had a rough childhood and was then treated poorly by her husband and mother in-law. Also, it was a bit predictable but I was happy with the ending even though I guessed it. This book is all about choices and lack of choices for women long ago, about love and loss, and recovery and resiliency. Great read!

"The Making of Her" is very much a novel about a specific time. Whilst English girls in the mid 1960's were experiencing the start of sexual freedom, with the increased availability of contraception, their Irish equivalents were firmly stuck in the 19th century. Contraception and abortion were illegal and children born out of wedlock were distinctly frowned upon.

Thirty years later Joan Egan is contacted by the daughter she had to give up for adoption. Her second daughter Carmel has no idea that she has an older sibling. As Joan fights the demons from her past she uncovers the cracks in her marriage. This is a novel about the choices forced on women and how they have changed over time. It is also about love and hate within families, the struggles of those in the lower echelons of society and the snobbery of the upper middle classes.

An emotional roller-coaster of a family drama.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

It is 1996 and Joan is living a seemingly happy life in Dublin. She's been married for thirty years to Martin Egan and they are the parents of daughter Carmel. When the couple married in 1969, Joan left her life of struggles behind as Martin was heir to Egan's Builders and Supplies, a successful family business. Joan's working-class life was filled with tragedy and hardship. When the story shifts to the 1960s, we learn that the unmarried couple had another daughter in London who they gave up for adoption fearing the scorn of their community. Joan and Martin stayed together and kept the first pregnancy a secret for all these years. Martin was able to move on. Joan was brokenhearted. When their first daughter Emma reaches out to Joan, old wounds open wide up. Could this offer Joan an opportunity for redemption?

In her debut novel, Irish-born author Bernadette Jiwa has written a deeply moving book about motherhood. It also addresses the shame women faced if they found themselves "in trouble". And the story details the division in social classes showing how the people working in the factories and living in government housing were looked down upon. I teared up many times reading this beautiful and powerful book which will touch mothers, daughters and sisters.

Unfortunately, this one didn't work for me. I really wanted to like it because, in theory, has a lot of the elements that I normally appreciate in books. But I felt that the book has a strange rhythm. I was dragging it for moments, feeling that the storytelling was too slow, and for others, some conflicts were resolved too quickly. I didn't care that much about the characters that felt a little flat. I couldn't sympathize with them (except for Matt and little Ben but they don't get that much attention on the first half).
Martin, Molly and Carmel are very unpleasant characters. And the story is too predictable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It captured my interest with the hopes of Joan getting out of her childhood home to a better life with Martin.
I was so happy that Martin stuck by her side and then crushed with the choice she was forced to make with April. The long family relationship made me very sad while Joan and Martin lived with Molly and had their second daughter. I was very glad when the mother daughter relationship turned around and Joan had the strength to do what she needed to do to find happiness and find herself again. The ending was very appropriate and perfect because Emma gave Joan a little piece of her life but not everything by not letting them meet Ben. That ending was sad and happy all in one and I liked that it had a little different twist from many perfect endings. It kept me thinking. The author did a beautiful job with this story.

What a great debut novel for Jiwa. It explored the feelings and frustrations of Joan who came of age in 60s Ireland and the difficulties that arose when women were so limited in choices.
This story did pull on my heart. I felt for Joan, Carmel, and Emma. Molly and Martin annoyed me, which I am sure they were supposed to.
However, I felt like there was too much emphasis on the story and the characters lacked a little depth. I needed to feel more for Emma and Joan and I just didn’t. They just seemed a little flat.
This was a great debut novel and I would definitely give this author another chance!

This book touched on a lot of issues based Ireland. Joan Was raised in the LOW class And lived in the estates which are called housing projects. Her mother was very very poor because her husband drank. She kept having children On her last one was born she died. The family had no choice I had to give up the rest of their children except the 2 oldest ones because they were getting ready to work. In the paper they would list places where they could send children for adoption. So Joan and her sister went to work in the factories around their home.. Joan fell in love with an upper class man who ran his own business but his mother was very cruel because his Cause his father died. A lot of these women were forced to marry because they would get pregnant Put them those homes run by the nuns. If they had some money they could go to London. Mother was forced to marry her father because she got knocked up. And everybody looked down on her because it was a shotgun wedding.. Joan and her sister had no food in the house most of the time because the father drank loves her but away. We're doing we'll never go to dances or anything like that because you're afraid I'm the man. Joan and Martin got together they're together very quietly because of his mother. His mother did not approve of her at all. Joan got pregnant by Martin. She went to London to be with him. She lived in a boarding house where the I know was very sympathetic to her. She went through this with a lot of these women who would have babies and then give them up for adoption. But Martin was very controlling and very demanding of her. He made it very clear he would marry her but she would have to give up the baby. So they went back to Ireland to live with his mother. Mother was very mean to her all the time. She had another baby named CAR Mel She kept the other baby very secretly. How are you dealt with this all her life she was very unhappy and she couldn't really relate to her 2nd daughter. Then out of the blue Emily called her. She was very angry at her adoptive parents but she dealt with it and when she got married she alright she had a little boy named Ben. Ben needed a bone marrow transplant because he was dying cancer. In June did the boner but she was not compatible. And how this woman became much more stronger and how she kind of told her daughter about it and I think that was really courageous of her. This book shows how women have to deal with these tragic situations in their lives but the book especially the ending will make you very hopeful how you can deal with tragedy. June Really lived up to a potential at the end and her daughter did too. It shows how families who can become dysfunctional can make everything whole again when everything is open and everybody can speak their minds

The story is told in a dual timeline beginning in 1965 in Dublin when Joan and Martin meet and fall in love. Joan's mother dies after giving birth and most of her siblings were adopted out except for Joan and a younger sister. Their father is an alcoholic and the girls are forced to leave school early to get jobs to support themselves and their father. Martin comes from a wealthy family who own the building supply company in town. Martin's mother, Molly, is dead set against their friendship. Martin goes to London to study accounting but, before he goes, Joan ends up pregnant. Fast forward to Dublin in 1996, Joan and Martin are married and have a daughter, Carmel. They are living in the ritzy estate of Martin's mother Molly who runs everyone and everything. I do not want to say much more because I do not want to provide any spoilers. I really enjoyed this story and found myself sniffling multiple times.

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton (Penguin Group) for the ARC of this book that I really enjoyed.

This one had so much potential. It grabbed my attention right away and I devoured it. But it ended abruptly!
To the point I was surprised when it was done, I even went back a page on my Kindle thinking wait what?!
Stop reading here for my spoiler questions about the book.

What happened between her and Martin? Did he really let her go?
Did Martin/Molly ever meet Emma/Ben?
Did Ben survive?
Whatever happened to her sisters?

The Making of Her totally grabbed me from the first chapter. An emotional read that I could not put down. I felt so for Joan, Emma, and Carmel. All of them I feel through their stories grew from their experiences in the past. I can see that this story could continue, and I hope that it does. An excellent read.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

Bernadette Jiwa's The Making of Her starts off slow, and while it's without a doubt readable, it doesn't necessarily suck the reader in. Sticking with it is well worth the effort though, as the reader gets to know Joan better and learns how complicated her life was by the lack of choices available to her as a young woman. When her mother dies when Joan is a teenager, all but her next oldest sister are shipped off and the pair are forced into work early to support themselves and their alcoholic father. While working at the Royal Candy Factory, Joan begins seeing Martin during her commute and the pair falls for one another. Eventually Joan ends up pregnant and Martin promises to do right by her, but when push comes to shove, he's terrified of how an illegitimate child will be perceived by his wealthy mother and their small community, forcing Joan to give her daughter up for adoption. Years later, Martin and Joan are in a loveless marriage where Joan feels trapped and unconnected to Carmel, the daughter they had after marrying. And the daughter she gave away and can't forget is dealing with a crisis of her own that will force her to reach out to Joan for help - her son has leukemia and they've been unsuccessful finding a match for him. The book gradually lets the reader see how trapped Joan is in her life. Even though she initially comes off as a rich wife unhappy with her nagging, overbearing mother-in-law and her weak-willed husband, the reader sees as the book goes on how being a woman, the differences in her and Martin's circumstances, and being forced to give her daughter up for adoption has shaped Joan, and how receiving a phone call she's been wishing for changes what she's willing to accept in her life, and maybe, gives her a chance to both repair her relationship with Carmel and get to know the daughter she was forced to give away. The ending in particular was both powerful and emotional and shows just how hard (and how easy) it can be to make decisions that have a profound impact on the people in your life. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Making of Her is the story of a married couple with a big secret. Told in dual timelines, the 1960's and 1990's, it is the love story of Joan and Martin, lovers who are from very different backgrounds in an Irish town, and the impact a decision has on the rest of their lives.

I found The Making of Her easy to read, and entertaining. The character of Joan was interesting, if somewhat cold and unlikeable, though her lack of warmth is explained through the story. Her husband, Martin, on the other hand, I disliked almost immediately, as the self-centered, weak-willed oaf he demonstrated himself to be throughout, as Joan's character grows emotionally.

The story itself is quite predictable, though I found the ending enjoyable. I look forward to seeing more from Ms. Jiwa in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton (Penguin Group) for the digital ARC of The Making of Her. The opinions in this review are my own.

The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa is a beautifully written debut.
Jiwa's writing was very compelling and she instantly drew me into her story.
An amazing riveting yet extremely emotional historical fiction piece with characters I felt for and grew to love.
Told in dual timelines 1960s and 1990s, this novel will break your heart, yet it will give you hope.
I'm pretty impressed The Making of Her is Bernadette's debut novel.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Dutton,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This book is about keeping secrets. Secrets are often one of the main ingredients in tearing apart relationships.

The story has 2 time lines…..the 1960s and the 1990s. Events from the 1960s come back to haunt everyone in the 1990s.

Quick synopsis: Joan and Martin were teenage sweethearts. Joan got pregnant but gave the child up for adoption. They later got married and had another daughter. Thirty years later the adopted daughter contacted her birth parents. But it was not all hugs and rainbows. The adopted daughter has an agenda.

Sometimes when I am reading a book with dual timelines, one appeals to me more than the other. Not in this case, both storylines are good. They both kept my interest.

Throughout the book, Joan is not a happy person. Life has not dealt her a bouquet of roses. She's had a lot to deal with and had never had the chance to be who she wanted to be. But things have a way of working out.

The story ended as I thought it should. It was a satisfying read.

Thank you to the publisher for offering me an Advance Readers Copy.

The Making of Her- Bernadette Jiwa
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I was selected by the publisher to do an early review.
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I couldn’t be more excited to read this advanced reader copy I was selected for. Set in dual timelines and characters, the story unfolds as you read about motherhood, loss and family secrets. You can connect with the main character Joan and how she has been stifled her whole life from all of those around her. Throughout the book you see her grow and step into who she really is. I found it fast paced and the setting was in Dublin. You all know how much I love books with dual timelines and this book checked off a lot of ticks for me. Joan should have decked Martin a few times as I felt he very much deserved it. Congratulations to Bernadette Jiwa on her debut that I am sure will be well received!
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Thank you to Emily from @penguinrandomhouse for the opportunity to review this book. I have never been more excited. Also a thank you to @netgalley
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